The Road of Change
by LadyTacoBell101
Summary: Jessamine Carstairs had everything she wanted in life. A parabatai, a caring boyfriend, a little sister that admired her, loving parents, her beloved violin, and friends who were like a second family to her. Sebastian made sure to turn everything upside down. Secrets are revealed, and Jessamine needs help in order to face the challenges they bring.
1. Chapter 1

The day Jess's life changed, wether for better or worse is still unclear, it was raining. A surprising sight for the usually sunny Los Angeles, but not an entirely unwelcome one. Jessamine Carstairs was currently spending this stormy afternoon in Adam's place, a restaurant, one run by downworlders at that, reading a book and enjoying a nice meal. It was her favorite place to escape, even if it's just for a little while.

Another surprise that this day had brought was Jess actually having this time to read, but everything was taken care of for today. Her parents were having a "date night" (if one would call going on a mission to help kill demons in San Francisco a date), her sister was with the Blackthorns for the weekend, Helen insisted that she could take care of her own siblings _and_ Emma while Jess took some alone time, Oliver, her _parabatai_ , had promised her that he wouldn't conduct anymore experiments/work on inventions for the rest of the day, and there was no training since Katrina was also on a mission. So thanks to all of that she is able to relax on this peaceful day.

"Excuse me miss, sorry to disturb you, but is that 'The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe'?" A male voice asked from the seat in front of her, making her jump a little as she had let her guard down while reading. Plus the rain seemed to aid in drowning out his movements.

Jess glanced up from her book to see that one of the cooks was sitting across in the booth she was seated. The man was smiling at her, and she could tell by his pointed ears and that he was of the fair-folk, or at least of faerie descent.

"Yes it is." She replied shortly, flicking her eyes back to her book. Hoping the fey would get the message to leave her be.

He didn't. "So, do you read often?" The boy smiled brightly at her, almost as if he expected his companion to become enraptured by his looks. Then again he was a faerie, so he must be use to that reaction to him.

"Yes, I read any time I can." She stated, hoping she conveyed enough disinterest to end the conversation.

"Who's your favorite author?" He pressed more, Jess could tell he was putting an effort in continuing the talk.

Deciding that he probably wasn't going to stop, and that their was no harm in discussing books, she placed her book down and began to actively participate. "Hm... I'll have to say it's a threeway tie between Charles Dickens, Shakespeare, and Lewis Carroll."

"Let me guess your favorite books from each of them is 'A Christmas Carol', 'Romeo and Juliet', and 'Alice in Wonderland'."

"Not even close." Jess couldn't but feel offended at the fact that he would assume that those were her favorites. "I happen to like all of Dickens' works fairly equally, 'Romeo and Juliet' is overrated, not that it's bad, he just has better works than that, and it's the same with 'Alice in Wonderland'." She responded matter of factly.

"Okay, okay. I can understand loving the majority of Dickens' works and that Alice is overrated, but 'Romeo and Juliet' is a classic." He shook his head in disagreement.

"Oh but it is, people refer to it as the "greatest love story". It's not, it wasn't even meant to be a love story in my opinion." Jess was bewildered by her newfound enthusiasm for this discussion.

"Do feel free to backup your statement with evidence."

"Well first off the play happens in the span of about four days. You can't fall in love with someone in four days, those things take time. Then there's the fact that Juliet is thirteen and Romeo's like seventeen. I understand that people got married young in those days, but it wouldn't be accepted by today's standards. They basically kill themselves because they were impatient and young and stupid. 'Romeo and Juliet' isn't a love story, it's a cautionary tale of young fools rushing into big decision without think it over thoroughly."

After her rant her companion smiled, impressed, and Jess realised he was hoping for this response. "Ah yes, you do make a good point." His look of impress turned to curiosity as he tilted his head to the side. "What's your name?"

The sudden change of topic caught the nephilim woman off guard. "Excuse me?"

"What is your name? He tilted his head, bright colorful eyes glittered with curiosity. "I've been wondering."

"That doesn't make you sound stalkerish at all." Jess replied sarcastically, avoiding giving him her name.

"Yes, well, when you work in places like this you tend to get curious about the recurring customers."

"That doesn't give you the right to ask a question like that."

"I'm sure you don't mind, otherwise you would've just ignored me."

She processed this before deciding that he was right. "Fine then, give me three good reasons as to why I should tell you my name."

He rose to the challenge, not deterred by it at all. "Let's see. 1. You're a regular, so it would be nice to know you by name. Not as 'Veggie burger with extra fries'. 2. I would like to get to know you better, I can tell already that you're an interesting person. And finally 3. I like knowing things, and I bet you do too."

Jess didn't know what had possessed her, maybe it was his persistence she admired, but she decided to give into his request. "Ok then, I'm Jessamine Carstairs, but most people call me Jess." She extended her hand in a sign of a proper greeting.

"Well, Jess, I'm Faendal, and I do believe this is a start to a beautiful friendship." Faedal took Jess's extended hand excepting her greeting, a jolt of electricity ran up her arm as he did. She looked at him, wondering if he felt it too. If he did, he didn't show it.

"Yes, I think it will be too."

"So where's that guy, the one that usually comes with you." Faendal turned his head to look around the area, making sure he didn't miss him. "Who is he anyways, your brother?"

"He's not here, and he's actually my _parabatai_." she explained, though that typically means they're consider closer then siblings.

"Ah, I see." He affirmed, nodding his understanding.

"FAENDAL GET BACK TO WORK AND STOP BOTHERING THE CUSTOMERS." A voice, that Jess recognized as the owner's, yelled for her new friend, and his cheeks turned as red as a rose in embrassment.

"Well time to get back to the job. I'll see you around, Jess." Faendal quickly retreated back to the section of the restaurant he was supposed to wait on.

 _'What a peculiar man.'_ Jess thought as he disappeared back into the kitchen.

The ringing of her phone turned her attention away from the strange faerie. With a quickly glance to the screen she saw a photo of a smiling orange-haired man, indicating that Oliver was calling.

"What did you do?" She asked after she answered the call.

"Do you always assume Oliver did something?" A childish female voice replied over the phone.

"Emma?" Jess's expression turned to confused as she cradled the phone between her neck and ear, and started to gather her things. "Why do you have Oliver's phone? Is he all right?" She felt a slight panic raise in her chest.

"Yeah, he's fine. I just wanted to know when you're coming back." The ten-year-old replied, oblivious to the the panic she had caused her big sister.

"Oh, well, I'll actually be there in a few. Oh, I'll even read you all some stories tonight, if that's alright with Helen." The oldest gets to dictate what they can and can't do.

"Once sec. I'll ask." There was a slight pause as Emma went to Helen. "She said it's fine with her."

"Alright, I'll be there soon then." Jess promised as she gathered up her things.

"Okay, love you, bye." With that her sister hung up, before she could reply back, so Jess paid her bill and started to leave. As she walked out the door she pushed up on her sunglasses, in order to make certain that they were covering her eyes as much as possible. Double checking that her runes were covered she took off for the institute.

As she approached the towering church she remembered who intimidated she was the first time she came here. Now the place felt like a second home to her. Reaching the giant door, Jess pushed hard on it, causing it to open with it's normally loud creak.

Once her body was fully inside the door slammed shut of it"s own accord, and she was greeted with the Blackthorns, including her closest female friend, Helen, plus her sister and Oliver loitering in the lobby of the institute doing their own thing.

This was the main reason why she felt the need to get away. With the numerous Blackthorns, a little sister, and a questionably sane best friend, their was always someone wanting her attention. The only time Jess got to do what she wanted is in the dead of night, and sometimes not even then.

"Welcome back, Jessamine." Oliver smiled contently at her. "Did you enjoy your reading?"

"Of course I did, but you already knew that." Jess walked over to where he was sitting on the stairs, and saw that he was drawing up blueprints for one of his crazy inventions. "Another one, what is it suppose to be this time?"

"A new design for the sensor that will allow a shadowhunter to scan through multiple levels, like in the sewers and multi story buildings, and place the locations of demons on a 3D map, as accurately as possible."

"So you've run out of ideas for inventions and are now trying to improve on ones already made by someone else." She replied bluntly.

"Well not everyone can be as creative as Henry Branwell." Oliver retorted sheepishly. He was always trying to be like his ancestor, who happened to be the inventor of the sensor and partnered with a warlock to create the first portal.

"No, but you are, you just have inventors block."

"What?" He raised an eyebrow at his _parabatai_ in confusion.

"It's the inventors equivalent of writer's block." Her glasses blocked the eye roll she gave him, but he still knew she did it.

"You know you that you can take those things off around here, right?" Oliver questioned, pointing at the sunglasses that were still on her face.

"You know why I keep them on." Her voice lowered as she turned away to look towards the others.

"Right, right, because of the photosensitivity." He spoke lightly, almost sarcastically, knowing that wasn't the real reason why she rarely took them off away from home.

She turned her gaze back to him and smiled weakly. "Yeah, the Photophobia."

"Well it's not that bright in here, ask maybe you can take them off." He returned her smile. "For me."

Jess complied and pulled the shades off her face, placing them in the pocket of her jacket for easy access. "Happy now?" She inquired, but she wasn't mad at him. He knew what to say in order to get Jess to do what he wanted. She would gladly do anything for him, and he would do the same for her.

"Yes, you look better without them." He spoke comfortingly to her, trying to make Jess feel better.

"Jess can you come to my parent's room? My mom wants you to read to her." Drusilla requested, she had walked up to them as they were conversing. Jess turned her eyes onto the younger girl.

Jess was surprised by Eleanor's request for her, but chalked it up to the fact that she hadn't seen Jess or everyone else, besides her family, much since she was put on bedrest. "Okay, is there anything specific she wants me to read?" She questioned as she stood up, Oliver got up as well.

"Yeah, she has it with her." Dru confirmed, and gave them a small smile of thanks, before walking off to gather her other siblings. While Jess and Oliver made their way to Eleanor and Andrew's room.

Upon entering Jess spotted the pair sitting in the middle of the oversized bed. She always thought it strange for people to have such big bed.

"Oh, hello Jess, Ollie." Eleanor greeted as she moved to sit up in bed, with the help of her husband.

She looked completely exhausted and Jess was more than a little worried for her. "Hey, how are you?" Jess asked as she moved to sit on the edge of the bed.

"I'm fine, it's not like this is my first time having a baby, just a little tried that's all." She smiled warmly at them.

"Which is why you're on bedrest, so you can rest." Andrew spoke lightly, but anyone could see the worry in his eyes. He turned his worried gaze to the other two, and smiled weakly. "You know you two can sit closer, we don't bite."

She and Oliver decided to accept his offer and crawled up closer to them, as the others began to pour in. Soon Jess was sitting in front of Eleanor with Helen and Oliver by her sides, Julian and Emma in her lap, the twins (Tiberius and Livia) in Helen's, Dru in Oliver's, Mark had sat himself on the edge of the bed by his father (pretending to be uninterested in Jess's reading), and Jess with 'Charlotte's Web' open in her hands as she reaf out loud, words coming out of her more from memory then from actually reading along.

There was something serene about this, she realised. Being surrounded by the people she considered a second family, reading one of her favorite books of the 20th century. Moment like these were getting harder to come by, now that Jess and Oliver were moving up in their training and soon they'll be starting to go out on missions and patrols themselves.

 _'Oh well.'_ She mentally sighed. _'I'll just have to make an effort to cherish them more.'_

 **An:** This is a rewrite


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Oliver, do you actually think we're going to run into anything?" Jessamine looked over her shoulder at her _parabatai,_ an amused smile spreading on her face despite the boredom. She brushed the dark brown bangs out of her face, it wasn't able to fit in her pony tail without falling back out. Hair could be so annoying sometimes.

This was their first patrol, without someone breathing down their necks, making sure there was no screw ups, and it's been quiet so far. No demons to be found, not even a single downworlder either. It seems as if the world knew Jess and Oliver were out, and decided to keep things quiet. Much to Jess' dismay.

She saw Oliver roll his eyes and increase his pace to keep up with her. "I don't know about you, but I like it when we run into nothing. Besides, it's been awhile since we've been able to walk, to talk, like this." He had a serene smile on his face once he caught up to her,."It's nice."

Jess shrugged in response and took one last glance around the current alley the _parabatai_ has been investigating. "Yeah, I guess. We should head to another area, this one's obviously vacant."

They headed out on to the main street, a few mundanes passed by them without a care in the world. Sometimes Jessamine envied their arrogance, they didn't have to worry about hunting demons or downworlders who break the law. Most didn't _have_ to live like this day could be their last, it was truly easy for them to take their lives for granted. Even with all the risks involved though, she wouldn't want to be anywhere else. The life of a shadowhunter, was truly the only one for her.

"Jess, did you see that?" Oliver exclaimed, shifting Jess' attention off a trio of mundanes that were passing by.

She saw him point in a direction and followed it to see that Oliver was pointing towards another alley way. "No, was I supposed to?"

Oliver shook his head in dismay, orange locks swayed with the moment. "I saw a figure go back there, it might be nothing, but I don't want to take any chances. Something seemed off with the way he was moving." He explained.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go." Jess moved forward on to the street, making certain to avoid the few cars and people that were still active at this time of night. Just imagine the look on their faces if they bumped into something they couldn't see.

"That's what I like hear."

The two crouched by a building and peered around the corner to see down the alley. The coast was clear, as far as they could tell in the dark, nothing but a few trashcans could be seen. So they began their cautious decent into the alley. As Jess and Oliver edged their way to a door where a small beam of light was shining through the bottom crack.

"Are you sure this is legal?" A voice spoke from inside, male, sounded young. The two Nephilim pressed closer to the door to hear better, this could be interesting.

There was some shuffling inside and another, feminine, voice spoke. "Of course it is, I wouldn't play chance it with the children of Raziel if it wasn't."

 _'Shall we interrupt?'_ Jess mouthed to Oliver and tilted her head towards the door for emphasis. There was more then enough to suggest something off is going on.

 _'On three.'_ He mouthed back.

 _'One.'_ They stood up.

 _'Two.'_ They pulled back their legs.

"Three" They both shouted aloud as they kicked at the door in unison.

With their combined force, The door easily gave way. It swung open and slammed into the wall on the another side, scaring the occupants inside. The pair rushed in and drew blades, ready for conflict. Their expressions turned to shock at the scene before them. Jess and Oliver seemed to have stumbled into a living room, surprisingly clean, not what one would expect illegal activity to go down. A witch with horns protruding from her head had flipped over couch she was seating in. The biggest shock hadn't been from either of these, it was from the presence of a familiar faerie waiter.

"Faendal, what's going on here?" Jess lowered her sword, dazed by the presence of her strange friend.

It's been almost a year since Faendal's strange introduction to her life. Since then that strange encounter has grown into a nice friendship. It started with Jess visiting him on his breaks at Adam's place, sometimes even Oliver tagged along. Then he invited her over to his apartment to hang out, and next thing she knew, he had come over to her family's house for dinner. Seeing him there caused a slight stab of betrayal in Jess' heart. _'What was going on here?'_

"OH, hey Jess." Faendal raised his hand in a slight, composure relaxed as he leaned

Meanwhile, the witch seemed to right herself, and had a more then furious look to give the situation before her. "What are you two doing here." She hissed at Jessamine and Oliver.

"Investigating?" Oliver offered, unsure of what to think of the situation as much as Jess was.

Jess snapped out of her stupor and raised her sword once more. "We heard part of your conversation, now you owe us an explanation." She regained an air of authority and a leveled head.

"And just what did you hear, that made you think we doing something wrong?" The witch responded walking up to Jess, not mending the blade , meeting her eye to eye, well eye to chest. Her head turned up to glare at the taller woman.

"Carol calm down." Faendal spoke from his spot against the wall, not having moved a muscle since.

"Carol, do you have something you want to say to me?" Jess chuckled with amusement.

"Never mind that let's just get back on topic." Carol took a step away from the woman, shaking her head n displeasure. "You two seem think we're engaging in something illegal, so we'll set you straight."

Faendal pushed off the wall and shrugged. "We were just trying to make a deal, I needed some stuff, and Carol had it."

"What is it with you faeries and being vague? You were just buying ingredients for the restaurant." She turned back to the Nephilim. "All perfectly legal at that."

"Then why were you asking if it was legal?" Oliver questioned Faendal. Straightening his posture

"This is my first time doing this, and because I'm friends with you two, I didn't want to doing anything that will cause me trouble with you guys." Faendal explained, a neutral expression raised on his face.

The witch chuckled with amusement. "You really should find some better friends then, Faendal."

"Alright. Alright, we get it, we're assholes." Jess commented. "So we'll just check over your merchandise and leave, how's that?" She proposed considering they've already went through enough trouble, might as well make sure it was worth it.

"Just get over with it." She snapped and jabbed a thumb in the direction of a table full of stuff.

Under the awkward air they pair sorted through the things, and found that they were telling the truth. Nothing usual, except for a few bags of blood, and even those were covered under the laws. Sadly, vampires do need to feed. Better on these then on actual people. Despite the tension in the air, Jess let out a breath of relief. Faendal wasn't causing trouble, that was good news. After a quick, and rushed, goodbye, they fled the scene as fast as possible. Once they got far enough away they paused, and Jess and Oliver glanced at each other.

"That was the awkward." Jess and Oliver exclaimed at the same time.

The pair cracked a smile at that and began to laugh, harder then what was probably appropriate. Arms wrapped around waists as Jess and Oliver leaned against each other for support. They were still young after all, a mistake like this will seem as important as a speck of dirt soon enough.

"If mom ever finds out about we're dead, you know that, right?" Oliver added once they calmed down. Brushing the red bangs, having fallen into his face during their fit of laughter, out of his eyes.

"I know." Jess added with a shudder. "Next time, let's listen to the whole conversation, and figure out exactly

"So, read any good books lately?" Oliver changed the subject,

"Actually there was this one about a..." What was supposed to be a simple question will turn into a _very_ detailed verbal essay, lasting the long walk home.

 **An:** Please feel free to review and I hope you liked this chapter!


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